An Unexplored Realm in the Heartland of the Southern Gulf ... - Famsi

construct a canal across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec to link the Gulf of Mexico, and
thereby the Atlantic, with the Pacific. All these designs naturally centered completely on
the Coatzacoalcos River Basin, the most direct route between the oceans and the one of
least resistance. Ultimately, Porfirio Díaz inaugurated the Ferrocarril Interoceánico de
Tehuantepec in 1907.
By the end of the 19 th century, the alterations to the landscape caused by the
eradication of forests, forced mono-cropping, and extended grazing areas forced the
human inhabitants to adapt to the changing environmental pressures. These changes
further altered the regional ecologies and, in turn, negatively impacted the flora and
fauna. Exploration and processing of petroleum, another natural resource of the
Sotavento, was about to alter the region. Besides a further degradation of the
environmental landscape, the petroleum industry would have major social, political, and
economic consequences for land use, tenure systems, and social organization (Grayson
1980; Santiago 2006).
The Contemporary Period (c. 1921-2006)
An ejido, or communally farmed plot, is a uniquely Mexican method of
redistributing large landholdings to farmers too to own for the land (DeWalt and Rees
1994). Under this process, members of the community could petition the government to
seize private properties that exceeded specific limits. If the petition was reviewed and
accepted, the government would expropriate the land and create an ejido. The Mexican
government retained title but granted the community members (ejidatarios) the right to
farm the land, either collectively or through individualized parcels, or both. The
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